


a domestic snippet

by mariamegale



Series: Call me 'sweetheart', please? [3]
Category: Band of Brothers
Genre: Fluff, Friends With Benefits, M/M, No Plot/Plotless, because why break a good habit, cuddle benefits
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-28
Updated: 2020-04-28
Packaged: 2021-03-01 21:54:20
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,602
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23894146
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mariamegale/pseuds/mariamegale
Summary: Babe comes home one day to find the flat in chaos.Or okay, that happens every now and then, but this day is different to most other cases when he comes home to the flat looking like an office supply store threw up in it.For one, Eugene is wearing a suit. Babe has no words for that one. Eugene is in a suit and he’s smoking and he’s ranting in French, clearly hyped up on way too much caffeine, and Babe needs to take a time-out.(An intermission.)
Relationships: Babe Heffron/Eugene Roe
Series: Call me 'sweetheart', please? [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1722178
Comments: 7
Kudos: 37





	a domestic snippet

**Author's Note:**

> Just an intermission between all the kink, because as much as we'd all like it, people can't survive off sex and making out alone. Plus I wanted to write ridiculous boys being ridiculous and taking care of each other and their friends.
> 
> Content warnings in the end notes! <3

Babe comes home one day to find the flat in chaos. 

Or okay, that happens every now and then, but this day is different to most other cases when he comes home to the flat looking like an office supply store threw up in it.

Eugene gets stuck researching things sometimes. When he was in the last year of med school, piles of books, papers, anatomical drawings and handwritten notes of varying levels of cohesion were staples of their interior design choices. 

Not because Eugene was making a conscious choice to lowkey imitate a serial killer den, but because Babe was making a very conscious choice to not become the first victim of aforementioned serial killer by disturbing the mess. 

The first time Babe had seen Eugene cry was the morning after he’d gotten the news that he’d passed his last written exam. He'd been walking around with a paper bag, “TO BE BURNED,STAT” written on it, shoving papers into it while sobbing quietly. Babe was still waiting for Gene to become ready to completely unpack that memory.

Anyway — every now and then something would come up in Eugene’s life, at the hospital or just in general, that sent him into deep rabbit holes of research, furiously determined to get to the bottom of whatever was racking his brain at the moment. Babe usually just let him work through it, zigzagging between the papers on their kitchen table while he ate his cereal in the mornings and watching tv with his headphones on at his half of the sofa while Eugene frowned at things on his half. 

Within a couple of days, Gene usually got the answers he was searching for and their living space returned to its normal neat state. 

Today, however, was different. First, Eugene isn’t even in the destroyed living room when Babe walks through the door, which either means he’s sulking in his bedroom or frantically chain smoking on the balcony. Neither option is a good sign.

Second, when Babe does find him on the balcony, Eugene is talking animatedly into his phone in rapid French, his laptop balancing precariously on what looks like a notepad on top of a book on top of his lap.

Third, he is wearing a suit. Babe has no words for that one. Eugene is wearing dress pants and a crisp white shirt with the sleeves folded up to his elbows under a black vest, with a tie draped over his shoulders and the top buttons of his shirt undone. 

Eugene is in a suit and he’s smoking and he’s ranting in French, clearly hyped up on way too much caffeine, and Babe needs to take a time-out. 

He pushes the balcony door open and slips outside quietly. Babe knows better than to try to pull Gene out of whatever it is that he’s so invested in, so he steals a cigarette and leans against the railing as he lights it, waiting the other man out. 

Eugene shoots him a quick look from under furrowed brows that looks furious but is probably more annoyed than angry, and Babe smiles sunnily back at him. Gene doesn’t like it when Babe smokes, but he’s never said anything about it because he knows he has absolutely zero ground under his feet on that one, and he definitely doesn’t like it when Babe steals his smokes. 

( _“Would you say those are your… Emotional support cigarettes?” The deadpan flat look Eugene nailed him with made Babe snicker, incredibly proud of his own comedic talents._ )

Now, however, Gene is caught in a phone call and can’t bitch Babe out over it, so he enjoys the cigarette slowly, closing his eyes against the warm noon sun. It’s a few minutes later when he hears Eugene hang up, tossing his phone on their janky outdoor table with a sigh.

“Renee says hi,” he tells Babe, and ah, now he can piece the puzzle together.

Like Babe, Renee was Eugene’s best friend. Eugene was still stubbornly refusing to answer the question of which of them he liked more, but Babe was very convinced of his ability to get him to confess that it was Babe. He remained eternally certain Eugene was going to crack soon, once he figured out how to trick him into it.

She was also the only person Eugene regularly spoke French with, outside of his family. Renee, a Belgian exchange student, had initially bonded with Eugene over the fact that he was fluent in her language, but they quickly grew close going through the wringer that was medical school.

She was a brilliant doctor-to-be, talented with people in a way Babe knew Eugene was in awe of. He’d listened to a number of (drunk) reverent rants about how Gene wished he could reach her skill of connecting with patients through just a handshake and a warm smile. 

It wasn’t hard to imagine her bedside manner — she’d made instant ramen for Babe once the day after a party, and he swears the smile she gave him when she handed him the bowl had single-handedly cured his hangover.

So that, and how she’d been one of the people who had gotten Gene to actually survive medical school, had been contributing factors to the small breakdown Eugene had had when she announced her plans to go into academia instead of becoming a practicing doctor. It had taken a lot of alcohol, hugging and reassurances to get him through that crisis. 

Babe spent a lot of time that night guaranteeing that the planet Earth would still be a good place without Renee in a hospital. That the world hadn’t been robbed of a modern Florence Nightingale, destined to gracefully walk through hospital corridors curing the suffering masses with only a cool hand rested on feverish cheeks. How they weren’t all going to be stuck in limbo, the world a darker, more terrifying place now that there wouldn’t be a Renee there for those that needed her.

Babe had started to cry at that point, which hadn’t been part of the plan, wanting to call Renee and plead to her about how she couldn’t leave them all alone in this cold and uncaring world. But Eugene seemed to feel better after managing to reassure an unconsolable Babe that the world wasn’t devoid of hope just because one kind woman wouldn’t become a doctor, so he still counted that as a job well done. 

_Anyway_ — Renee had been the person on the phone, which explained things. Babe hadn’t seen Renee in weeks, as she was busy working on some kind of important essay, and it made sense that she’d call Eugene if she had gotten desperately stuck. 

Given the state of their flat, Eugene, who was the captain of the _SS Help A Friend_ , had obviously taken the call for help quite seriously. Babe finishes Eugene’s cigarette, buts it out, careful not to get any ember or ashes on Gene’s work and decides to test his theory.

“How is she?” he asked, waiting patiently for Eugene to finish jotting down a thought, holding his laptop up in one hand and writing frantically with the other one, before getting an answer.

“Uh, she’s good, needed help finding some sources. Has a deadline tonight so I thought I’d help out.” Bingo. Babe congratulated himself on his excellent detective skills, moving on to the one question he hadn’t managed to work out a good answer to. 

“Okay. Eugene, why are you in a suit?” He gets an answer almost immediately, this time.

“Renee wanted to meet for drinks when she sends her paper in.”

“Okay. Wouldn’t that be later tonight, though?”

“Yes, Edward, it would.”

“…So why are you in it now?”

Eugene sighs deeply, but Babe refuses to find that an unreasonable question. First, he’s still not really convinced why a suit would be necessary in the first place. It’s also one in the afternoon. People outside of offices should not be in suits. “I got dressed so that I can focus on finding these sources, and then go meet up with Renee without having to waste any time after she gets her paper sent in.”

“But wouldn’t Renee need time to get ready?”

“She got changed this morning.” 

Daring one last question, Babe asks, “how do you know that, Gene?”

And making it very clear he doesn’t have the patience for this, Eugene replies, “we’ve been on the phone since six. Can I please get back to this now?”

Babe stares at this ridiculous person for five seconds before deciding to give up. He’d sworn off trying to understand med students years earlier, but there were still moments when the sheer idiocy of these people struck him like a wet fish to the face.

“Yeah, sure. Let Renee know I said hi, yeah?” Eugene promises to, and Babe moves to get back inside when Gene looks up at him.

“Hey, could you get me a cup of coffee?” Babe stops at the door, eyeing his roommate suspiciously. It’s difficult to gauge the precise amount of caffeine Eugene has ingested at any point, but his eyes are steady when they meet Babe’s, and he seems to be pretty well-put together, so he indulges the other man.

“Sure. But I’m keeping track. If your hands start shaking, I’m cutting you off.” Eugene rolls his eyes, but doesn’t protest, so Babe moves to the kitchen and puts the coffeemaker on. 

Eying the suspiciously clean and empty kitchen, he sighs deeply. Eugene had once yelled nutritional facts at him for continually having cereal for dinner, but saw no problem in letting his own diet get reduced down to coffee, orange juice and Ritz crackers.

Okay so maybe neither of them were paragons of dietary perfection, but Babe at least had the decency to know he was making unhealthy choices and feel guilty about it as he did it anyway, while Euene probably wouldn't even realise anything was wrong until he passed out on the street somewhere.

Babe knew Gene's company wasn’t going to be any help, either. He’d once seen Renee go fifty-two hours without sleep while chugging strawberry smoothies like it’d earn her a medal. _Med students,_ Babe thought, shaking his head to himself.

Opening the fridge to see what he had to work with, he went about making lunch while silently wondering who the hell died and made him the responsible friend. Maybe he should check up on Lipton, just to make sure he was okay.

———

Five hours later Eugene says goodbye to Renee, Babe chiming in a ‘congratu-well-done’, and then slumps down next to Babe on the sofa with a heavy thud. He closes his eyes and just breathes deeply with his eyes closed for a few seconds.

“I forgot how stressful this was,” he murmurs, yawning into his hand. Babe scoots closer and puts his arm around Gene, letting the man rest his head on his shoulder. 

“You still meeting up with Renee?” He expects the answer to be ‘no’, both of them appearing like they need to take a nap more than they need alcohol, but as always he misjudges his friends. 

“Yeah, I’m heading out in a few minutes.” He looks up at Babe, “did you want to come? I’m sure you’re welcome.” Babe shakes his head.

“Nah, I was out with Bill yesterday, remember? I think I just want to take it easy tonight.” Eugene hums, making himself more comfortable on Babe’s shoulder. “I might clean up a bit though, if that’s okay? I’ll keep all your notes in one place if you want to sort through them.”

“Hey, you don’t have to,” Gene protests, “I made the mess, I’ll sort it out.”

Babe presses his lips to the top of Eugene’s head with a smile and a headshake. “Don’t worry about it. You were helping Renee, I don’t mind. Really.” Eugene pulls back to look Babe over, accepting whatever he finds in his face because he nods and drops the subject. They share a smile before Babe nudges his roommate with his shoulder, “Come on, go get ready. Give Renee a hug from me when you meet up, okay?”

True to his earlier word, Eugene only has to put on shoes and a jacket before he’s ready to leave, going over to press a kiss to Babe’s temple before he’s out the door. Babe is left standing in the living room with warm cheeks, trying to remember when exactly they started kissing each other goodbye.

He ends up cleaning the flat barely aware of the smile on his face.

———

It’s just past eleven when Babe hears the front door open and close. Babe has made a pillow- and blanket nest for himself on the sofa, buried deep in comfort and watching old reality shows he knows the outcomes of, and he’s too nestled in to have the energy to get up and greet Eugene.

He can hear how tired Gene is just from the sounds of him taking off his shoes, so he scoots over a little to be able to look back towards the hallway. When he manages to hands-free shuffle himself around enough to see, Eugene is leaned against the wall, watching him with a smile on his face. 

“Welcome home,” Babe tells him from his burrito, “how was your night?”

“It was nice,” Eugene answers, closing his eyes with a happy little sigh. “Renee says hi. And Ralph.”

“Spina was there?” Babe says, watching Eugene yawn into his hand so hard he has tears in his eyes when he opens them again, and he finds he doesn’t care what Spina gets up to these days. “Hey, what are you doing up? Go lie down before you fall asleep on yourself.”

Eugene nods, rubbing a hand over his eyes as he makes his way over to where Babe is buried on the sofa. Without hesitating, Gene lies down on top of him, curling up into himself with his head leaned on top Babe’s chest over the duvet. 

Babe smiles, wrestling a hand out from his nest to pet the top of Eugene’s head, which turns into gently scratching his scalp when Gene sigs and presses into the touch. He’s still in his suit, looking far too neat for having been worn some twelve-plus hours, and Babe feels himself wince at the thought of being in fancy clothes for that long. 

“Hey Gene,” he says softly, not wanting to bother his friend too much in his space of comfort, “don’t you wanna change clothes? Put on pyjamas or something?” 

Eugene just groans, pressing his face into the duvet, and Babe laughs a little.

“Come on, you’ll get uncomfortable.” 

The response Gene gives to that is to wriggle around until he finds the edge of the duvet, lifting it up so he can scoot in and plaster himself to Babe’s side. He makes a happy little noise when he’s settled in, face nestled in Babe’s neck, an arm around his waist and one of his legs pressed between Babe’s. “Not uncomfortable now.”

And of course Babe can’t find it in himself to argue, just rearranges himself so he can hold on properly to Eugene. He nuzzles into Gene’s black hair, feels his breath against his neck and strokes his hand along his back. He should make Eugene get up, to at least take his clothes off if not put on pyjamas, but for now Babe lets himself doze to the warm weight of Eugene at his side.

_Yeah_ , he thinks, _to say this is uncomfortable would be a lie._

**Author's Note:**

> CONTENT WARNINGS:
> 
> \- I don't think there are any?
> 
> \- Eugene clearly overworks himself sometimes
> 
> \- Alcohol is very briefly mentioned
> 
> \- oh: REAL BAD and insufficient (stress) eating habits are talked about. That is actually a warning.
> 
> Tell me if there is anything else I should put a heads up about! <3
> 
> * * *
> 
> Are there Belgian medical exchange students in the US? I'm going to say yes, there are, but don't ask me for sources on that please
> 
> [Come, say hi, send me prompts or just to talk!](https://mariamegale.tumblr.com/) <3


End file.
